Can They Cut It?

One of the favourite aspects of our classes for many of our Mini Explorers is the chance to use scissors. They often disregard other activities on offer in favour of cutting small triangles out of a sheet of paper. While I understand that this can be annoying at home and result in a lot of cleaning up, this is a stage that nearly all children go through and one that should be encouraged. It is a significant stage in the development of fine motor skills that will not only make them better at cutting out but also improve their hand-writing and other skills that involve coordinating the fingers and the muscles of the hand.

Lots of parents, quite reasonably, worry about their little ones using scissors but I would argue that it is important for them to be exposed to them so that they can learn to use them properly, under one-to-one supervision. After all, when children start nursery they will have scissors and won’t always be supervised quite so closely.

So, if you have a child who is going through the ‘scissor phase’ don’t discourage it but make sure that you give them guidance and support, showing them how to use them properly and safely. Their nursery teachers will certainly thank you for it!

Here are a few templates that I have found which could be helpful for you to try out at home. They include cutting simple straight lines, cutting around corners and cutting curves. If you have a scissor fan in your house they should enjoy these!